Condo vs. Single Family Home

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Buying your first home will be one of the biggest decisions you’ll ever make. Deciding whether to purchase a house or condominium will be equally important.

Being a homeowner will be a great challenge. Taking care of and maintaining your home will likely push your patience to the limit; yard work in particular coming to mind. When the wind blows, taking the leaves off the trees, it results in your lawn and gutters being their new destinations. While raking leaves may not be a difficult task, it’s still tedious. When they land in your gutters things get a little more challenging. Unless you have a ranch home and can easily reach them, you may have to hire a gutter cleaning company to handle this. Failure to have your gutters and downspouts free of leaves can lead to water intrusion.

You flick on the late news and suddenly hear lake effect snow making its way to a neighborhood near you. You wake up to find twelve inches of freshly deposited snow in your driveway. You can either hire a snow plowing company or you can truck out there, shovel in hand.

Spring comes and after a rain you notice some water stains on your ceiling. You walk outside and notice some of the shingles are missing from your roof. Time to call a local roofing contractor to take a peak and they break the news that you need a new roof. You feel like you’ve been punched in the gut after receiving their estimate. If only you would have bought a condo.

Now, what’s the difference in owning a condo? Condos are mostly part of a large piece of real estate that’s been divided into several units, which are each separately owned. Unlike single family homes they participate in a homeowners association (HOA) which collects a fee from the residents and pools the funds together in order to manage and maintain all their areas. Snow removal and landscaping are just a few items paid for by the HOA. As a resident you are usually required to pay monthly for your HOA fee however it may be a quarterly fee depending on the units. The older the property the greater the chances of paying a higher monthly fee.

What will work best for you? If you do not like spending your personal time taking care of maintenance then a condo may be your best bet. If you don’t mind spending time caring for and maintaining these things then a single family home may suit you well.

Whether you’re moving to a condo or a single family home we can help! Give Parma Movers, Inc. a call and we’ll schedule a free in-home survey!